Éirígí Candidates Secure An Average Of 4.4% Of The Popular Vote
Now that the counts have concluded in the eight areas that Éirígí ran candidates in the local elections we have some overall figures to work off. Roughly 110,000 people voted in the relevant eight areas. Just under 5,000 people gave Éirígí their first preference vote which worked out at 4.4%. In other words about one in every twenty-two voters chose to vote Éirígí over all the other political parties and independents that were on the ballot paper.
The tallies suggest that thousands more gave Éirígí high preference votes after voting for other non-Éirígí candidates. This was no small feat for a small, entirely voluntary organisation with very limited resources that has been continuously demonised in the state and corporate media.
When one takes the unprecedented surge towards Sinn Fein and the lesser surges towards People Before Profit, the United Left Alliance, the Anti-Austerity Alliance and left-leaning independents into account Éirígí's performance becomes all the more impressive.
The vote received by the slate of Éirígí candidates challenges the establishment's narrative that socialist republicanism is a redundant philosophy incapable of attracting popular support. With more activists, time and resources we believe the results could have been replicated and improved in working class communities across Ireland.
There is no doubt that the cause of socialist republicanism has been introduced to a much wider audience as a result of the local election with over 300,000 people living in the eight areas where Éirígí stood. Over the course of the six months proceeding the elections Éirígí distributed an estimated 500,000 pieces of literature and engaged with tens of thousands of people in the same eight areas.
We want to again thank everyone that voted for Éirígí and worked on our election campaigns. We now intend to push on with the task of building popular support for socialist republicanism in the areas where Éirígí is already active and getting things up and running in new areas. If you want to join with us please get in touch with us today!